Research Catalog

Title

French spy [graphic] / lith[ographed] & published by J.H. Bufford.

Publication

Boston : J.H. Bufford, [186-?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Celeste, Madame (Céline), 1814-1882.
• J.H. Bufford & Co. ltg

Description

1 print : lithograph on tinted ground, b&w; 35 x 26 cm.

Summary

Action drawing of a woman dressed as a man, in a scanty costume that bares her arms and legs. Her hair is partly hidden by a flowing headdress surmounted by a crescent. In her right hand is a bow.

Subjects

• Lithographs
• Haines, John Thomas, 1799?-1843 > French spy
• Menken, Adah Isaacs, 1835-1868

Genre/Form

Lithographs.

Biography (note)

• A smaller-scale version of this image appears in a scrapbook of cartes de visite held by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The carte de visite itself bears no text, but the handwritten identification on the scrapbook reads "Ada [sic] Isaacs Menken?" The French spy, a play by John Thomas Haines that appeared with various subtitles over the years, was first presented in Paris in 1830, with Céline Celeste in the role of the Arab boy. The American actress Adah Isaacs Menken first appeared in the same role around 1859, performing it in Boston, New York, and other American cities through the 1860s. Although the performer in this lithograph has been sometimes been identified as Celeste, the draped costume and headdress she wears are similar if not identical to costumes worn by Menken in photographs of this role and others, while prints of Celeste show her in a more elaborately cut costume, with a turban on her head. The lithographer/publisher's location in Boston also suggests that the image was inspired by an American production.

Call Number

*MGZFX Fre 7

OCLC

827003041

Title

French spy [graphic] / lith[ographed] & published by J.H. Bufford.

Imprint

Boston : J.H. Bufford, [186-?]

Biography

A smaller-scale version of this image appears in a scrapbook of cartes de visite held by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The carte de visite itself bears no text, but the handwritten identification on the scrapbook reads "Ada [sic] Isaacs Menken?" The French spy, a play by John Thomas Haines that appeared with various subtitles over the years, was first presented in Paris in 1830, with Céline Celeste in the role of the Arab boy. The American actress Adah Isaacs Menken first appeared in the same role around 1859, performing it in Boston, New York, and other American cities through the 1860s. Although the performer in this lithograph has been sometimes been identified as Celeste, the draped costume and headdress she wears are similar if not identical to costumes worn by Menken in photographs of this role and others, while prints of Celeste show her in a more elaborately cut costume, with a turban on her head. The lithographer/publisher's location in Boston also suggests that the image was inspired by an American production.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

For a carte de visite version of this image, see: *MGZEB New York (City). Museum of Modern Art. Collection of carte de visite photographs, ca. 1860-1910. no. 429.

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Added Author

Celeste, Madame (Céline), 1814-1882. Associated name

J.H. Bufford & Co. Lithographer

Research Call Number

*MGZFX Fre 7